TechLife.

Microsoft bucks dot-com slump with eXPerience

The occasion? America's favorite alleged monopolist is introducing a new version of its Office suite Thursday--easily the most widely used software on the planet.

(Think Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and more.)

The host will be none other than Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, a strapping 6-footer with a bald pate and a booming voice.

Ballmer is expecting about 4,000 of the Redmond, Wash.-based company's closest friends. Of course, the free beer and food will be a draw. Likewise the software rebates, T-shirts, pens and other freebies.

Ballmer himself is an attraction. The 45-year-old Detroit-area native has run the world's biggest software company since founder and Chairman Bill Gates handed him the joystick 18 months ago. He has been known to work stadium-size crowds of Microsofties into motivational frenzies.

He'll have to work harder this time.

Office XP is the first in a string of new Microsoft products rolling out in a difficult economy. Among the offerings is an important update of its Windows operating system, due Oct. 25.

Ballmer is coming to Chicago to fire up the company's small army of business partners to sell software, despite a looming recession and the tech industry's deepest funk in at least a decade.

That takes more than eXPerience (the term behind Microsoft's "XP" moniker).

One reason: a new Microsoft licensing program for businesses that buy software in bulk. To qualify, customers must buy their Office upgrades by Oct. 1, whether they plan to install new software or not.

"At the end of the day," says Le Tocq, "Microsoft's going to make a substantial amount of money."

So, why not log off and indulge in some eXtracurricular Pleasure? Ballmer's United Center kick-off starts at 3:30 p.m., but even latecomers still have a crack at downloading a free beer.